ANZCA Bulletin - June 2009 - Australian and New Zealand College ...

Joint Faculty of Intensive Care MedicineJFICM Medal:Dr Felicity Helen HawkerThe award of the JFICM Medal to FelicityHelen Hawker, presented at the 2009Annual Scientific Meeting.The Joint Faculty of Intensive Care MedicineMedal was established in 2005 and wasfirst presented at the inaugural JFICMAnnual Scientific Meeting that year. Thesole criterion for its award being that therecipient has made an outstanding andmajor contribution to the specialty. It isthus very fitting that Felicity Helen Hawkeris to receive the JFICM Medal at the last ASMof JFICM. Fitting because of her enormousand continuing contribution, fitting becauseof the unique nature of that contributionand also that she was the first Dean of theJoint Faculty.Like many famous Australians she wasborn in Tasmania and it was apparent fromher university and school days that she wasgoing to make a mark on the world. Ourspecialty is very fortunate that she choseintensive care medicine and she chose tolead and help guide the development ofour specialty. She was dux of her schooland first in her year at the University ofTasmania, and a champion horsewomanand winner of many academic andsports prizes.After completing her universitydegree, she gained diverse anaesthesiaand intensive care training in Hobart,Melbourne, Glasgow and Sydney, gainingEnglish and Australian fellowships beforetaking up a position at Royal PrinceAlfred Hospital in Sydney as an intensivecare specialist. There she was known forher clinical skills, academic ability andconsideration of patients, families and allmembers of the ICU team.After 10 years as co-director of ICU atRPA, she moved to Melbourne in 1995to become the director of ICU at CabriniHospital, perhaps somehow related to herblossoming relationship with a Melbournesurgeon, whom she later wed and whosecareer has many parallels with hers. Theyhave a son Paul, an extended family andvery full lives in and out of medicine.It is difficult to do justice to Felicity’sextensive career achievements, and 20-pageCV, in several short paragraphs becauseFelicity has contributed at every level ofintensive care education and training fromsupervisor of training, regional educationofficer; too many committees to list, boardsand executives, the panel of examiners,education officer, Censor, Vice-Dean, Deanand now director of Professional Affairs.She was the last dean of the Faculty ofIntensive Care and the first dean of thejoint faculty, having been instrumental inbringing together the two intensive caretraining programs. In essence she has ledand contributed to more than 15 different,major appointments over 20 years, not onlyin the section of intensive care, FICANZCA,JFICIM and ANZICS but also ANZCA andFRACP and the Committee of Presidents ofMedical Colleges. For eight years she wasa council member of the Western PacificAssociation of Critical Care Medicine.During her leisure time she has editedfour publications, given more than 35invited plenary lectures, written herown classic textbook and 21 chapters ofother books as well as numerous originalscientific articles, while following her loveof horses and bringing up a family.It is apparent that Felicity has not onlyaffected the lives of many through herclinical skills and caring, but her intellect,wise counsel and capacious memory fordetail have helped to guide our professionin its growth towards an independentcollege. She has done this with humanityand humility and her very humannesshas been a beacon for trainees,particularly women.A few years ago Sandy Peake quotedone of the pioneers of ICM, Matt Spence,when he said that the success of intensivecare was dependent on a dedicated team ofyoung doctors, who should be “young men,physically able to cope with emergenciesat any time and for prolonged periods”.Matt’s model has proven to be outdatedand it is such women as Felicity and Sandywho have helped our specialty into the21st century. Hopefully work practices arebecoming more balanced and opportunitiesare available for all to achieve leadershipand academic success. This is no smallpart due to Felicity’s advocacy for aflexible training scheme that gives fairopportunities for women.Felicity has been a great role modeland many a time I have used Felicityas an example to female trainees ofthe accomplishments, enjoyment andsatisfaction that can be gained from ICUpractice. She has devoted a large part ofher very busy life to sustain and grow ourspecialty, its training program and presencein the region. She has been at the forefront,caring, transforming the profession andtaking the lead. She is an inspiration toall and a very worthy recipient of theJFICM Medal.Clinical A/Prof Richard LeeJoint Faculty of Intensive Care MedicineBoard Member80The ANZCA Bulletin June 2009